The ‘mum noir’ film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You brought back the difficulties of those challenging early days of parenthood, and the conversation that freed me up emotionally
Critics say Rose Byrne gives “the performance of a lifetime” in “mum noir” film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. She’s been nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe, best leading performance at the Berlin film festival and best actress at the New York Film Critics Circle awards. But these plaudits, and across-the-board rave reviews, are the least of what she’s achieved with this movie, hailed as a “tour de force of matriarchal fury”. Both on screen and in the promotional interviews, Byrne pulls no punches. And it’s about time. Not being honest about what motherhood is really like is the greatest disservice we do other women.
“Having a baby is like going to the moon, and nobody ever tells you that,” the actor told the Times. “But it’s hard for women to talk about. There’s a lot of shame. You don’t want to feel like you don’t love your child, but there is a grief around becoming a mother, because you lose part of yourself that you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever get back. And that’s OK. It’s OK to grieve that – in fact, we should. Because it’s a before and an after.”